The acclaimed author of Chang and Eng
returns with a literary showstopper— a beautifully realized
novel that
at its heart is the story of a woman who will risk
everything to feel
something; a doctor whose diagnosis brings her entire life into
question; and a man who suddenly realizes that being a good
husband and
a good father can no longer comfortably coexist.

Josh
Goldin was savoring a Friday afternoon break in the coffee room,
harmlessly flirting with coworkers while anticipating the
weekend at
home where his wife, Dori, waited with their eight-month-old
son, Zack.
And then Josh’s secretary rushed in, using words like
intensive care, lost consciousness, blood. . . .

That morning, Dori had walked into the emergency room with
her son in
severe distress. Enter Dr. Darlene Stokes: an African-American
physician and single mother whose life is dedicated both to
her own son
and navigating the tricky maze of modern-day medicine. But
something
about Dori stirred the doctor’s suspicions. Darlene had
heard of the
sensational diagnosis of Munchausen by Proxy, where a mother
intentionally harms her baby, but had never come upon a case
of it
before. It was rarely diagnosed and extraordinarily
controversial.
Could it possibly have happened here?

As their four
lives
intersect with dramatic consequences, Darlene, Dori, and
Josh are
pushed to their breaking points as they confront the
nightmare that has
become their new reality. Darin Strauss’s extraordinary
novel is set in
a world turned upside down—where doctors try to save babies
from their
parents, police use the law to tear families apart, and the
people you
know the best end up surprising you the most.